Author: Broden Giambrone

The ITF is delighted to announce the appointment of Bianca Cordero as Program Intern. Bianca is a trans woman of color born and raised in Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn, NY in a Dominican household. She has worked as a Peer Educator at Harlem United, reaching out to the community and informing them about HIV awareness and prevention. Bianca has traveled to Washington DC to speak with congress and senators about issues within the trans community and marched in the Trans Day of Action 2018. When not working, Bianca takes part in the underground ballroom scene culture as a member of the legendary Haus Of Chanel and participates in a category called Runway. She also loves writing poetry and baking.

As Program Intern, Bianca will be supporting the ITF’s third grant cycle. We are thrilled to welcome Bianca to our team!

If you are still not sure how to get started, here are 5 tips for writing a competitive application:

Be clear and concise. We follow a strict page limit as this helps us fairly evaluate applications.Applications must not exceed eight pages. Font size should be no smaller than 11pt. Please note that to be fair, we will not review materials after eight pages. Additional materials (reports, strategic plans, etc.) will not be reviewed.

Follow the 3-3-2 formula. Due to the strict page limit, you need to be strategic with how you use space. We suggest that you allocate up to three pages to PART 1: Organizational Background, three pages to PART 2: Funding Request and two pages to PART 3: Financial Information. Do not forget to provide referees in PART 4.

Remember your reviewer. Your application will be reviewed by ITF’s Grant Making Panel (GMP), who are trans activists from different parts of the world. This means you should write to your peers, but know they may be peers who know very little about your working context. Trans activists know the importance of your work, just remember to describe its specifics.

Make your application stand out. Be clear about what your group will do with the funding and make sure you tell us what impact it will have on your community and the trans movement. The competition for funding is very high and you need to make a case for why your work is important to trans movement building in your region.

Be realistic. You are the experts of what needs to be done in your context so tell us what your group wants to do and not what you think we want to hear. The best applications are ambitious but realistic. This also includes the budget – ask for the funding that your group needs to do the work.

The ITF is accepting applications to our third grant cycle. We warmly welcome applications from trans-led groups with budgets below $150,000 USD based in any region of the world. The deadline to apply is December 1, 2018 at 5pm (ET/New York time).

Applying for a Grant
If you are thinking about applying for a grant, here is what you need to know:

The ITF is flexible and open to funding different forms of organizing. You can be organized as a collective, support group, formal organization, network, project, etc. However, in order to be eligible, your group must be trans-led (a definition is available here).

Your group does not need to be registered.

We prefer to make core/general support grants. We trust groups to know what they need. If your group would like to apply for project funding, you can specify this as part of your funding request.

We are only able to make one-year grants. Most grants will range between $10,000 and $30,000. Grants up to $50,000 may be considered in special circumstances. We do not accept applications for funding of more than $50,000 or less than $5,000.

We accept applications for funding in English, French, Russian, Simplified Chinese and Spanish.

In order to promote accessibility for all groups, the ITF welcomes video applications. This is limited to organizations that do not have the capacity to write an application but are better able to provide a spoken application in one of our languages (learn more at the bottom of this page).

This is a highly competitive process. If you applied in the past but were unsuccessful, you may apply again. We strongly encourage you to read the Application Guidelines (here). We are also hosting webinars in several regions, learn more on our website.

You can find more information at www.transfund.org or contact info@transfund.org.

The ITF invites trans-led groups from Asia and the Pacific to join us for a webinar on how to apply to the third grantmaking cycle. During this webinar, we will share information about the eligibility criteria, funding priorities and the grantmaking process. We will also give helpful tips on how to write a strong and competitive application. After the presentation there will be an interactive discussion and an opportunity to ask questions.

The ITF invites trans-led groups from the Caribbean to join us for a webinar on how to apply to the third grantmaking cycle. During this webinar, we will share information about the eligibility criteria, funding priorities and the grantmaking process. We will also give helpful tips on how to write a strong and competitive application. After the presentation there will be an interactive discussion and an opportunity to ask questions.

The ITF invites trans-led groups from Africa to join us for a webinar on how to apply to the third grantmaking cycle. During this webinar, we will share information about the eligibility criteria, funding priorities and the grantmaking process. We will also give helpful tips on how to write a strong and competitive application. After the presentation there will be an interactive discussion and an opportunity to ask questions.